International Activity
by DaTricksyHobbit
Summary: When the main eight countries move in together in a new house because of a global financial crisis, creepy happenings start to make them question their safety-and sanity. FrUK, GerTaly, AmeriPan, RoChu. Rated for language, mild violence and some slash.
1. Arrival

**Pairings: Germany/Italy, America/Japan, France/Britain, Russia/China. Human names sometimes used. Hope you enjoy!**

~o~

"Woah…it's _big!_" America yelled ecstatically, dropping the bags he was carrying to rush into the living room.

This was rather obvious, thought Britain, eyeing the stripy wallpaper with vague suspicion, but he had a definite point. The place had the feeling of some sort of weird, modernistic Victorian mansion, all high ceilings and wide staircases.

It was nice, though; a lot better than he'd expected.

They had moved out of the separate places they'd all been living in for the past few centuries, to house share. Considering they had left their previous houses because of the global economic crisis, he was surprised by how large this house was.

Although, there were going to be eight people living in it, and there was some considerable wear and tear if you looked closely, not to mention the… rumours that had been circulating about the manner in which the property had been vacated of its previous owners, maybe it had been a lot cheaper than most houses like this would be.

He was brought out of this reverie by a hand on his arm. He turned around to see France grinning at him.

"What?" he asked curtly. Francis ignored this, trying to slip an arm around his waist, which Britain batted away. "What do you think of it?" Arthur shrugged. "Could be worse. It seems pretty nice."

The others were just starting to come in, Japan already taking out his camera to take pictures, China stretching and muttering about how much he disliked trains, and Russia walking creepily close behind China, who did not seem to have noticed his close proximity to the frightening Russian yet.

Britain was secretly sort of glad he had been told to share with these particular nations. While it was probably going to be fairly awkward, and he wasn't entirely sure he could apply the normal definition of "friend" to any of them, it would probably be marginally better than if he had had to share with the other countries. At least he knew these guys relatively well.

That and the fact he was kind of dating one of them. No matter how strenuously he tried to deny it.

America pointed at the clock (it was already half twelve at night) "Hey, guys its getting late. We should totally try and figure out who's rooming with who."

Ah. Yes. There were only four rooms. This could be interesting.

**There. Hopefully that wasn't **_**too**_** atrocious. All reviews welcome, flames will be used to toast delicious marshmallows, which I shall give to you if you review! **


	2. Night Terror

**Okay, so… chapter two. Hoping to get either horror or fluff into this one (because they are so similar…'-_-) Anyway, Hope you enjoy!**

**~o~**

Arthur rolled over, so he had his back to Francis. Not particularly to his surprise, he and France had ended up sharing. He had been okay with that, until he had reached the room to find there was only a double bed. From Arthur's point of view, they hadn't been together for nearly long enough to get to this stage (three weeks), but everyone else seemed to disagree. Including Francis. Somehow, that hadn't made him feel any better about the situation.

To give France some credit, he hadn't actually tried anything, as he had expected he would, except for his offer to "release 600 years worth of sexual tension", which had been declined by a fiercely blushing Britain.

He pulled the covers slightly closer around him, deciding that he definitely needed to get some sleep.

He had barely shut his eyes, however, before he heard a piercing scream, which sounded distinctly like Italy's, from the bedroom next to theirs.

He and France both sat bolt upright, before exchanging looks that seemed to confirm what they were both thinking; even though this was Feliciano, it sounded serious.

Running out of the room, they almost bumped into China and Russia, who were both running from their room at the end of the hall (Russia bizarrely only wearing his scarf and a pair of boxers)

They all paused before the door, America and Japan catching up behind them from their room, all of them slightly nervous as to what they would find behind it, before Russia pushed it open, and they all dashed inside.

America flicked on the lamp, the light revealing a sobbing Italy, Germany bent over him, looking extremely concerned, the colour evidently only just returning to his face as he put an arm around the terrified Italian.

"Italy-san!" gasped Japan in alarm, as France knelt down in front of Italy, taking hold of his wrists and removing his palms gently from the younger nations face, so that he could look him in the face "Petit frère, its alright. Look, we're all here. You're safe." Italy looked at France with wide eyes before he nodded and buried his face in Germanys chest.

Germany, looking slightly abashed that France had done a better job at comforting Feliciano than he had, continued his patting of the youngest nations back "Italy. What happened?"

Italy looked slightly nervous before replying "j-just a scary dream."

Everyone in the room sighed with a mixture of relief and irritation as Germany rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "If it was about me and Japan leaving you, for the last time we're not going to, okay?" Italy shook his head "It wasn't about that…it was about something different." He was silent for a few seconds, before he smiled, a bit more like his normal self.

"Nee, I'll tell you in the morning."

**The tension! Anyway, I'm hoping that this isn't **_**really**_** similar to Paranormal Activity…I know the ending wont be. Even I'm not evil enough to make Feli murder everybody…or am I? I will accept requests for the ending! All comments welcome! **


	3. Crash Course in Comforting

**Another chapter! Mehopes this chapter will be okay…all reviews welcome!**

~o~

The next morning, most of them having had very little sleep, the majority of them overslept, Italy being no exception. His dream did not appear to have disturbed his sleep pattern, although the same could not be said for Ludwig.

Arthur had woken up briefly at about half past four in the morning, only to hear him still tossing and turning in the room next door. Britain felt a flicker of pity for him; for all his gruff reprimanding of Italy, the dream seemed to have really worried him.

At breakfast Alfred wasted no time in reminding Feliciano of his promise to tell them about the dream.

"Ve, well, it was about this house, actually" Italy said lightly, apparently none the worse for his nightmare. "There was someone shouting, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. It's almost as though they weren't even speaking…they were just shouting" his cheerful smile faltered for a second.

"Veh, it was probably nothing!"

"Ja."

Ludwig spoke up for the first time that morning. For most of the time that Italy had been speaking, he had been staring blankly at his plate, hardly listening.

Feliciano had probably told him about it last night. Now, he just looked exhausted. Exhausted, but relieved.

"Well, I'm glad you're alright, Italy-san"

Said Kiku softly.

"Yeah, man, you had us all totally freaked!"

Laughed America.

The rest of the day passed relatively peacefully, no one mentioning the dream again.

However, by the time most of them had gone to bed, Arthur, who was one of the last to go up, noticed that Italy was still sat quietly (which was weird enough for him), and when he asked him if he was going up soon, he seemed decidedly reluctant to go to bed.

As soon as Britain got up to bed, he told Francis, as he seemed pretty good with dealing with Italy, who got up, saying he'd mention it to Ludwig.

When he got back, Francis caught Arthur watching at him from the other side of the bed.

"Angleterre, you are staring."

Arthur blushed.

"I was surprised. You appear to be quite good with younger siblings. Unlike me."

The last bit came out before he could stop it. France sighed.

"Mon cher, you must stop beating yourself up about Amerique."

He walked over to Britain's side of the bed, cupping his face with his hands, so that they were decidedly close.

"Focus on the present, oui?"

Smiling, he pulled Arthur into a kiss, which after a while he responded to, as he felt Frances hands slide up under his shirt as their kiss deepened.

So neither of them noticed the unnaturally dark shadow in the corner of the room.

**Ah, the joys of implications and T ratings…I wanted to put a bit of fluff in. **


	4. Agreeing With America

**Soooo…I've got fluff (sort of), horror (sort of) all I need now is humour! (I know it wasn't in the description, but I'd planned to have it in from the start) However, I'm not sure it'll get put in, as this fic has taken a definite turn to the angsty side…Although, now I think about it, getting possessed by a demonic entity isn't exactly a barrel of laughs… all reviews welcome! Enjoy! **

~o~

The next couple of days passed relatively peacefully, with no disturbing dreams from any of the new residents, so the atmosphere in the house lightened considerably.

Britain spent most of his time fending of overly enthusiastic advances from France (although, it was noted by the others that these advances were currently being fought of in a marginally less violent fashion than they had less than a week before, which prompted some speculation about what had happened between them the few nights ago that this switch had happened.)

Russia continued to stalk (rather unnecessarily, considering the fact they were already together) a typically prickly China.

Japan and America continued their tentative (but admittedly rather adorable) romance.

Italy, as usual, tried to "bond" (loudly) with Germany. On the sofa. During Q.i.

The only even vaguely strange thing that happened was that their belongings seemed to have developed a habit of appearing on completely the other side of the room to where you put them down, but nobody thought too much of it.

Everything was going well.

By the fourth night, they had pretty much got used to the house, and any unease had been forgotten. Which was why the disturbance that night came as such a surprise.

Everyone had been out at a world summit meeting for most of the day, so no one could really specify whether there had been a change in the house or not, but from that day on the, the house was never really the same again.

Everyone slept peacefully until about one o'clock in the morning, when Arthur found himself being shaken awake by a wide-eyed Francis.

"What is it?" He asked, slightly concerned at the expression on Frances face.

Then, a bone chilling scream erupted from inside the bowels of the house.

"Angleterre." Francis said quickly. "There was a crash. Downstairs. I'm surprised it didn't wake you up. It sounded like something big being thrown."

Arthur swore. "And that scream?"

"I don't think that was Italy."

"I hope not."

With that, and with the strangest sense of de ja vu, they rushed out onto the landing, the others already ahead of them, down into the living room where the crash had come from.

"Shit."

Whispered Alfred, and for once the rest of them had to agree with him.


	5. From Nothing to Everything

**Hello! Chapter 5 now…this is the furthest I've ever got with a fanfic to date…anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

~o~

"Nothings moved." Francis muttered.

"How's that possible, aru? That bang was huge!"

"Do you think that maybe we dreamt it?" Kiku offered hopefully.

"What, a dream that we all had at the same time?" Said Arthur dismissively

"C'mon, whatever you are! Come out and face the hero!"

"America, I don't think that's helping."

"Maybe the things just moved on their own."

"Like Ded Morez dolls, da?"

"Veh, scary!"

"That's beside the point, nothing _has_ moved."

"So what made the noise?"

They all seemed to have the same thought at the same time, even though, obviously, it was ridiculous.

"You don't think…this house…might be haunted?" China was the first one to voice the idea.

America turned pale, owing to his crippling fear of ghosts, and clung to Japan, who blushed deeply and half-heartedly tried to prize him off.

"It's possible…" Mused Arthur, who was, as a rule, marginally more open to suggestions based around mystical entities existing than most.

At that moment another gigantic crash sounded, as if answering, the echoing reverberating around the entire house ominously, and prompting Italy and America to yell in terror, the others looking frantically around, trying to locate where the noise had come from; this was pointless, as the sound was now ricocheting off the walls, causing the lights to swing and making it almost impossible to locate where the original noise had come from.

"Okay…make that a yes…" Britain muttered shakily.

"So what should we do?" Germany asked

They looked around, the silence swelling overpoweringly in the suddenly threatening house they now had to live in.

"Cup of tea?"

The others exchanged looks, before nodding; there wasn't much else they could do, as they were fairly sure they weren't going to get back to sleep tonight.

**Hee hee… I'm looking forward to writing the next chapters… demonic possession here I come! (Yeah, don't become a character in one of my fanfics. You become a vessel for Satan. **o_O**)**


	6. Caught On Camera

**I'm really sorry that this story ended up on such a long hiatus…computer issues and GCSE revision abounded, but that's not really an excuse…enjoy! **

~o~

Britain jerked awake, to find he had fallen asleep at the kitchen table, France sat next to him, his head bobbing gently as he breathed softly in his sleep. Looking around the room, he could see the others were in similar states; Italy had fallen asleep with his head on the table, Germany slumped against him. China had actually fallen asleep with a cup of tea in his hand, which had fallen onto the floor next to him. America hadn't let go of Japan for the entire evening, and had fallen asleep like that; Japans face was still bore the expression of being slightly embarrassed, but not quite having the heart to tell him to let go.

Russia was actually awake and drinking leisurely from his ever present vodka bottle, lead pipe in hand, his arm around the unaware Yao.

_Huh._ He thought. _So much for not falling asleep._

~o~

Later that morning, Alfred regained his dignity (well, as much dignity as he could ever regain) from last night by gathering them around the table and loudly trying to organise a "house meeting" to attempt to work out what they were going to do about their, apparently supernatural, problem.

So far, after some squabbling that put their World War days to shame, they had narrowed their suggestions down to about three main ideas, the best one (though Britain hated to admit it) coming from Japan, America and France;

To put cameras in their rooms, and watch them back the next day, to see if they could catch the ghost on camera.

(Although he suspected this idea came from Japans compulsive need to take photos of everything, Americas obsession with ghost-in-a-photo based horror flicks and the fact that France probably just liked the idea of putting cameras in everyone's bedrooms.)

They decided to put this idea into practice that night, and everybody went about their business as usual, although Britain noted that they all seemed slightly reluctant to be alone in the house for too long.

That night, cameras assembled (Japan seemed to have a great number of the stashed away somewhere) they all left to their various rooms, with a feeling of mixed anticipation and dread

To their surprise nothing woke them up that night.

~o~

The next morning they watched the footage back, not expecting to find much.

They managed to get the laptop onto split screen, so that the four videos were being shown side by side.

Four shots of the eight of them; Italy and Germany, America and Japan, Russia and China, him and France. (He felt slightly awkward at how close they were lying)

The time showed to 12.30. Nothing happened, so they fast forwarded it.

1.30. 2.30. 3.30. The clock continued moving forwards.

Then the door slammed. On all of the screens, at the same time.

Then a noise; a deep booming noise that they didn't initially recognise as footsteps, as if more than one person was stamping their feet simultaneously. It sounded inhuman.

Demonic.


	7. A Supernatural Sickness

**Ghosties ahoy! (I'm sure that was a quote from paranormal activity…) Anyway, as always, enjoy and review!** **(And lock your doors at night, kids!)**

~o~

They all stood in silence for a few seconds, before they all started frantically speaking at once.

"C-crap, did you see that door slam?"

"Oui, of course I did!"

"Aiyah! This house is freaking me out, aru!"

"Me too, dude!"

"Hai, I must admit this house makes me very uncomfortable."

"Ci! This is all really creepy!"

Germany, as usual, was the one to break up the clamour.

"Everybody shut up! Now, don't you" he pointed at France and China "Have meetings with your bosses today?"

France and China stared at him.

"How do you know that?"

Germany sighed. "Am I the only one who buys a calendar in here?"

"Oh…right."

~o~

That night, as they got ready to go to bed, cameras set up, Britain found himself looking at the door in the corner of their room. Even when he was half asleep, his eyes kept unconsciously resting on it. But eventually he did fall into a restless sleep.

~o~

When he woke up, he was standing in the middle of the bedroom, France and the others staring at him like he had grown three heads or something.

He frowned. "What?" He asked them irritably.

When they all exchanged slightly scared looks, he asked them again, this time slightly concerned. "What is it?"

"A-Artie" Alfred stuttered, and for once Arthur didn't correct him, "You were _outside_, you know, on the porch. You…said you wanted to stay out there."

"No I wasn't! You all just woke me up!"

Kiku motioned to the camera he was carrying. "Britain-san, when you were acting strangely, I recorded you on the camera. If you don't believe us, then you should watch back the film."

"Okay, fine." Arthur said, somewhat in defeat. "We'll watch it in the morning. What time is it?"

"Half past six. We can watch it now." Said Germany with crushing finality, stating that the argument was closed.

Everyone evidently shared this view, and began to leave the room, Britain following them after France tugged on his arm, gesturing for him to go after them.

They all sat around the laptop on the kitchen table, as Kiku fussed about, setting up the video and waiting for it to load.

Everybody kept shooting worried looks at Arthur that he only just caught out of the corner of his eye every now and then, as though he had recently been ill, and they expected him to lapse back at any moment. It was not a comforting feeling.

Japan had finished his alterations on the laptop, and turned it round slightly, so that Arthur had the clearest view of it.

"I hope you're ready for this, Britain-san."

He said softly, as he pressed play.


	8. Sickness Spreading

**On a slightly random note, the** **"cameras-in-bedrooms" thing could have gone either way, when you think about it. Food for thought, perverts…**

~o~

The screen flashed into life, as the black and white image of the night-vision camera flickered onto it.

There were him and Francis, exactly as he remembered falling asleep last night, the time showing 11.25pm.

Kiku fast forwarded it until it the clock at the bottom of the screen showed 4.15am.

Then he set it to play, and Arthur gasped.

In the video, he had stood up, and walked around to the other side of the bed, where he stopped next to where France was sleeping, to stare intently at him.

He was suddenly uncomfortably aware of everybody staring at him, before Japan spoke up

"Are you sure you have now memory of this, Britain-san?"

"Certain." He murmured. He had absolutely no recollection of anything that had happened so far.

The video continued playing for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes of nothing happening, just Arthur standing next to Francis. Standing and staring.

Eventually Alfred spoke up. "How long are you going to stand there, dude?"

Japan fast forwarded the video slightly more, until the time showed 6.10am, when Arthur showed some sign of movement.

On the screen, he turned around, and walked purposefully out of the door, which slammed loudly behind him, causing France to jerk awake, before he noticed Arthur was gone, and jumped out of bed, looking panicky.

When he left the room, slamming the door, Kiku opened another window on the laptop, which displayed another video window.

"This one is after France-san told us you were not in your bed."

"Veh, he burst into our room shouting!"

"Ssh, Italy."

Respectfully ignoring this interruption, Japan clicked the play button.

The first shot the screen showed was of the floor, Japan evidently just having grabbed the camera from its position in their room, before it steadied itself, showing a shot of the back of France and Germanys heads in front.

"_Where do you think he's gone?"_

"_I think he must have gone to the garden." _

The door opened in front of the camera, as they all dashed out onto the porch, Italy's curl occasionally bobbing in and out of view of the camera, as a shot of a motionless figure sat on the swing on the porch came into view.

"_Thank God, Angleterre, are you alright?"_

"_Nee, he looks pretty out of it!"_

"_Yeah! Hey, Iggy, are you gonna go back inside, or what?"_

On the screen, Arthur turned his head slightly, so he was facing the camera, and spoke in a low, dreamlike voice.

"_I don't want to go inside." _

"_Quoi? But it's cold."_

"_I'll stay outside."_

"_Oui, suit yourself. I'll get you a blanket."_

As he turned to leave, Arthur stood up noiselessly, and walked back into the house, as silent as ever, before walking past the others up into his and Frances room.

Then, a familiar scene played;

"_What?" _

On the film, Arthur frowned.

"_What is it?"_

"_A-Artie" _Alfred stuttered, and for once Arthur didn't correct him,_ "You were outside, you know, on the porch. You…said you wanted to stay out there."_

"_No I wasn't! You all just woke me up!"_

Kiku motioned to the camera he was carrying_. _

"_Britain-san, when you were acting strangely, I recorded you on the camera. If you don't believe us, then you should watch back the film."_

**Bit weird, this chapter. Oh well. Another one bites the metaphorical, spooky dust. Poor Arthur. R&R!**


	9. Who Ya Gonna Call?

**So, Chapter 9! Enjoy and review as always or I shall send Prussia and his 5 metres after you. And you don't want that, do you?**

~o~

Japan closed the laptop with a snap that made everybody jump.

"I don't remember any of that." Said Arthur tensely "I mean, it looks like I was _possessed_."

"I think you probably were, aru." Murmured China. "You're eyes were all unfocused."

"Had you had anything to _drink_ that night, Britain?" Asked Germany sternly, as Arthur shook his head. "Not a drop. I couldn't have been drunk or anything."

"And that's not like him when he's drunk." Alfred pointed out.

"Hmm…" Ludwig seemed to consider it for a moment. "Assuming you were possessed, I think we'll need some outside help." He paused for a few seconds, as if not quite believing the ridiculousness of what he was about to say.

"Does anybody know any good exorcists?"

~o~

There was a knock at the door, which was opened to reveal a plump, middle-aged man in a brown suit.

It wasn't quite how they'd imagined a "psychic demonologist". For one thing, they were slightly disappointed that he hadn't appeared in a puff of black smoke, as opposed to mundanely knocking on the door. Arthur assumed that it might have been considered rude. And really, they didn't need any more of the supernatural in their lives, taking into account why they had called out a demonologist in the first place.

He introduced himself, and asked if they had anything in the house that might anger the demon in any way (apparently it was a demon, as ghosts didn't posses people),

such as a Ouija board, tarot cards, or anything like that.

(Alfred offered that they did have a DVD of _Ghostbusters 2_, which he had ignored.)

As soon as they walked through the door into the lounge, however, he stopped dead.

"I sense…great evils…within theses walls…a boisterous spirit…a boy…and an unknown…"

They peered around the demonologist to see Russia sat on the sofa, smiling benignly.

"Ivan! You're interfering with his psychic powers! Leave the room, aru!" Said China sternly. Russia looked round, and after a stare off with a scowling Yao, left the room, taking his iron pipe with him.

"That just leaves the boisterous spirit, the boy and the unknown…" Muttered Germany thoughtfully. "What could that be…?"

"Hi, West!"

"Oh, h-, wait, Prussia? What the hell are you doing here?"

Gilbert, Peter and Matthew had suddenly appeared in the doorway next to the demonologist.

"Where did you come from?"

"We didn't get relocated, because we're not proper countries, and everyone just forgot about Mattie; we've been in your cellar, and let me tell you, there is some _crazy_ shit happening in here: the awesome me is leaving the building."

With that, he turned around, completely ignoring the confused psychic, and was followed by a cheerily skipping Sealand and an apologetically smiling Canada.

There was a good minute's silence before Germany muttered

"…We have a cellar?" Causing talking to break out again.

"So, do we not have demons after all? 'Cause that would be awesome."

"When you think about it, Amerique" Said France thoughtfully "he did say _evils_."

"Yeah…" Arthur pondered "As in, evils, plural. What do you think, Doctor?"

He turned around, but the demonologist was turning to leave.

"I'm sorry, I can't stay here; I'm just angering it. I can't help you." He thrust a piece of paper into Feliciano's hand, who was nearest the door.

"Call this number. It's another demonologist, far more knowledgeable than I am. He can help you. And…" He looked around the room uncertainly, before opening the door "I'm so sorry. Good luck."

And with that he closed the door.


	10. Independant Research

**Number 10! Finally into double figures...anyway, enjoy and review! **

~o~

For the second time that day, they were left in a stunned silence.

And, once again, they stayed like that until somebody spoke up, after which a hubbub

of conversation broke out.

"That spineless git!"

"But didn't he say that he was just angering the demon being here, aru?"

"Yeah, like he was protecting us."

"Ja, he said that, but…"

"You can not trust anyone, da?"

"Ack! Russia, where did you come from?"

"Ve, are you sure it's not just Russia?"

"Italy-san, please try to take this more seriously…"

This continued for a while until they finally reached a conclusion; they should research demons as much as possible, which led Japan and America to jump for the computer, China to try to question Russia as much as possible about whether it was just him behind the alleged demon, and Britain and Germany to drag France and Italy off to the library in the small town near the house.

After spending most of the journey in relative quiet, except for the steady wash of rain that was pattering over the car, France broke the silence by asking Britain a question.

"Angleterre, you've summoned demons…you don't think you could have summoned this one by accident, do you?"

"No, I haven't tried anything like that since the incident with Russia."

The rain continued to lash on the windows.

"What about your imaginary friends? Flying mint rabbit?"

"Flying mint _bunny_, and they're not imaginary, it just happens that everyone else can't see them."

France smiled slightly (he looked sort of relieved) "Just my luck to fall for someone crazy, non?"

Arthur frowned. "Shut up. And anyway, you made the move on me; you brought this on yourself."

In the drivers seat, Germany rolled his eyes, as Italy laughed at France trying to hug the unwilling Britain in the backseat.

"Ja, ja, don't mind us…"

However, the atmosphere in the car had lightened considerably.

~o~

Inside the library, amongst the many books and smell of mildew, their feelings of optimism were dampened almost as effectively as the libraries many tomes had been.

"Here." Said Germany quietly, as the librarian France had tried to hit on (and subsequently got France hit by Britain) glared across at them. "It says that this is a book on demons."

"Oh. Well done. Any others?"

"No, I think we've got all of them."

"Okay, lets go."

**Argh! Didn't get much action in this one…if the dialogue towards the end went a bit weird, it because I'm half-watching Torchwood "Countrycide" and its angsty!**


	11. Revelations

~o~

That night, Arthur lay awake, contemplating what had happened earlier that evening. After trawling the internet, Alfred and Kiku had dredged up some cases about demons,

and after sifting through various mock-ups, photo-manips and hoaxes, they had found a case that sounded suspiciously similar to theirs; a couple named Katie and Micah, who had been haunted by a rancorous poltergeist which haunted the unfortunate couple for several months.

This case, however, had not been as informative as they had hoped, or even especially comforting, as it had ended with the gruesome death of Micah, and the suspected death and disappearance of Katie.

They had moved over America and Japans research fairly swiftly.

After that, they had read through the book they had got from the library. (Actually, by this time it had all got too much for Italy, and he had to head off to the kitchen for some pasta and to make a therapeutic white flag.) This had told them only a few facts, and told them nothing about how to actually get rid of demons.

However, what they had found out, they had noted down;

That demons often had no physical bodies, and were less like beings (like ghosts were) and more like a negative feeling with a mind of its own, whose soul ambition was to cause misery to whichever hapless individual crossed their paths.

They also often haunted the same person (or occasionally multiple, linked, people) for that persons entire life.

At this, they heard a clatter of dropped pasta utensils from the kitchen, which mirrored well the feeling of shock that they were all experiencing. None of them said anything, but all of them were sure of one thing; they had all experienced the occult in some form or another over the years; could it not be the house that was haunted, but them?

~o~

Later that day, Austria had come round to apologise about Prussia (apparently a sound beating had been delivered via frying pan by Hungary), and he had heard about the strange happenings that had been going on in the new house, and wanted to check on them. (Well, he didn't say that, but under his spiky replies they got the gist of it)

His visit was welcome, because since he had been a fairly prominent part of several of their childhoods, he might be able to remember any paranormal activity better than they had.

After these pleasantries had been exchanged (read pleasantries as arguments) they asked him if he could remember anything out of the ordinary from any of their early lives, or whether any of the others countries had experienced troubles similar to theirs.

He had been guarded to start off with, but eventually he told them a recollection about just after Italy had first been taken into his service.

"When I went into his room, I think it was to tell him that Holy Rome was leaving, and, well…"

He hesitated.

"Ah, it's…probably nothing."

The look on his face said that it wasn't.


	12. Information From Austria

~o~

"No, tell us. We'll decide whether it's nothing or not"

Germany said firmly to Austria.

"Fine. I went into his room and…I saw a shadow. Not an ordinary one. There was something odd about it. It was _darker_ than usual. Anyway. Later that night, we heard a bang from his room, and when I came through, he was standing in Holy Rome's room, crying."

He looked curiously at the expressions on their faces at this piece of information.

"Well, obviously I assumed that he had fallen out of bed, and had instinctively gone to Holy Rome because the two of them were rather…close."

Italy looked slightly tenser at the mention of the Holy Roman Empire, but spoke up.

"I hadn't fallen out of bed. Stuff like that's been happening to me ever since I was tiny. Even when I lived with Grandpa Rome, and even before that, when I lived with Big brother Spain and Big brother France, and when me and Romano shared a room…sometimes there would be a shadow. And it was never at the end of his bed, it was always mine. It was scary."

"What did you do?" France asked.

"We'd just wait until it went away…that's why I always prefer sleeping with someone else…I hadn't had scary dreams or seen the shadow since I moved in with Germany, so I assumed it had stopped."

"So, Italy is, like, haunted?" America asked, a bit too loudly.

"Hai." Japan murmured looking at Italy with concern. "I must admit, I find all this very disturbing."

For a second, Italy looked fearful. "You guys aren't going to leave me, are you?"

"Italy-san!" Said Kiku in alarm

"We wouldn't." Ludwig said firmly.

"Besides" Muttered Arthur wearily "I'm pretty sure that if you asked around, we've all had experiences like that. Maybe not as bad, but I know I have."

Japan, America and China nodded and Russia smiled menacingly in a way that they assumed meant "yes."

Suddenly a loud noise erupted out of no where, making them all jump.

"_There might be something outside your window/but you just, never know…"_

This effectively broke the sombre mood, as Britain whipped round to face America, his expression irate.

"_There could be something right past the turn pipe gate/but you just, never know…"_

"Alfred! Turn that off! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, Iggy! Jeez, you guys are so jumpy!"

"_If my velocity starts to make you sweat/then just don't, let go—"_

Alfred's ring tone was cut off as he clicked a button and read the text he had received.

"It's from Hungary. She said she tried to contact Austria, Japan _and_ France, but they all have their phones switched off. Y'see!" He grinned smugly "That's why you keep your phone switched _on!"_

"Yes" Austria snapped, on edge because of this display of "bawdy American culture" (Britain wondered how he'd react to _"Party in the U.S.A.", _Americas previous ring tone.)

"What does she say?"

"She says that Prussia's trashed your piano. Oh, and she says hi to Italy."

Austria was already out of the door.

**Yes. My Chemical Romance. Slightly shoe-horned in and irrelevant, looking back (I wrote these fics a couple of years back…) but didn't change it. Oh welp.**


	13. Fear, Photographs and Fire

~o~

Hours later, Arthur jerked awake to the sound of screaming.

"Merde! Who's that?" Francis asked, as Arthur dashed out if bed.

"Never mind that! This sounds bad!"

As they opened the door, they were greeted with a sight that would almost have been comical if it had not also been so terrifying.

China was being dragged, literally kicking and screaming, out of his bedroom by his ankle by what appeared to be thin air, hotly pursued by a malevolent looking Russia.

By the time any of them were anywhere near him, however, Ivan had wrenched him free and pulled a violently shaking Yao into a (albeit slightly smothering) hug.

"Are you alright, China-san?" Japan looked shocked.

"Yes…" whispered Yao, wincing.

"What's wrong, man?" Asked America, who was shaking nearly as much as China.

"Aiyaah!" China lifted up his silky top to reveal a large, stickily scarlet bite mark underneath.

Japan gasped, Italy yelped, and Arthur felt a sudden, tight grip on his arm, looking up to see a pale America.

"Ch-China, what…?"

China paid no attention, instead rounded on Russia, suddenly stern.

"Ivan! Did you do this, aru? While I was sleeping?"

"Okay, I don't even wanna _ask_…"

Alfred said, what little colour was left in his face draining away, as the others temporarily directed their attention on Russia, who shook his head.

"No. Not even I sink that low."

He said, as he turned to China, grinning dangerously.

"But I will get whoever hurt my little Yao-Yao, da?"

"Oh my God, where did you get that lead pipe from?!

"Never mind that!" Britain said. "Let's go after it!"

America and Italy looked apprehensive.

"Russia-san, you stay with China-san." Japan said.

And with that they left.

~o~

It was amazing how menacing the house looked at night, pondered Britain nervously, as the walked down the short hallway that lead to China and Russia's room.

"Holy Crap, dude!"

America had stopped next to a photograph hung on the corridor wall.

"Wha- Sacre bleu!"

It was a group photo that Kiku had insisted on taking to commemorate Ivan and Yao announcing they were dating (like they hadn't all known since about _1689._)

The glass on the picture was broken, scattered over the floor, and the actual photograph had been slashed brutally, so that the faces on it were hardly recognisable.

Germany stepped forward, Italy clinging onto his arm, and touched the photo.

"The edges are warm where they've been ripped. This must have been _very _recent."

A bang sounded behind them, making them all yell in surprise.

"Come on." Germany commanded, and they all followed him, not looking back.

Behind their retreating backs, an unnaturally dark shadow began rising, and the photograph set on fire.

"**The actual photograph had been slashed brutally…" **

**Just like this anime! Read and review, please.**


	14. The Flour

**What horrors await our gentlemen this chapter? Read on, and you shall see…**

~o~

As they walked slowly towards the source of the bang, they found themselves heading down towards the kitchen.

They suddenly noticed something powdery and white underfoot.

Bending down, Arthur saw it was flour; Italy must have dropped it when they heard the piece of information about demons that had shocked him so much, and apparently no had cleaned it up.

Then, as they neared the kitchen door, they noticed footprints in the powder.

"D-did any of you make those?"

Arthur asked, realising his voice sounded a bit higher than usual.

He hoped that none of them had; the footprints didn't look like a normal human's.

When they all shook their heads, he gulped, and pushed open the door.

The kitchen was in even more disarray than Italy had left it in; pots and pans had mysteriously escaped from their cupboards, a plate was smashed on the floor and singe marks alternated between bits of furniture and the tiled walls.

In the middle of the kitchen, there was a pile of what, at first glance, looked like a pile of waste paper; on closer inspection, however, they saw that it was in fact a mountain of crumpled up photographs.

Arthur picked up a few of them, unfolded them, and gasped.

One was of Italy, in military uniform, grinning into the camera.

Another was of America and Japan, it must have been when they first became friends, sat in Japan's house, one of those ridiculous table-turning fortune telling things that they were both obsessed with between them.

The last one was one that would usually have been extremely embarrassing, but right now Arthur was too scared to care. It was a photograph of him and France, that that perverted bloody frog had taken (without his knowledge) when they had been kissing.

That, however, was not important; because he had destroyed that picture as soon as Francis had printed it out.

So how could it be here?

He crumpled it up again as Alfred spoke.

"Dudes…we should leave. Now."

"Oui. I agree; it is not safe here."

"Our bosses won't like it." Muttered Germany.

"They should try living here-aru!"

China had evidently just come down, a bandage just visible under his shirt where the grisly bite mark was.

"I know there's a hotel in town; we can stay there-aru."

With that, he turned around, Russia only just visible in the darkness behind him, and walked away.

~o~

"That's _nasty_."

Murmured England.

They were all sat in the hotel room together, looking at China's bite mark.

It looked even more gruesome now they could see it clearly; with the blood washed away, it almost seemed worse, now revealing ten dark, needle thin holes in Yao's side, where the long teeth of the monster had penetrated deep into his flesh.

The topic they had all tried to avoid, both to each other and to themselves, was the fact that if _they_ were being haunted, as opposed to the house, then even if they left, the demon could come back at any second.

Japan and Italy had been particularly subdued, Italy sitting for the majority of the time with his arms clasping tight onto Germanys arm, pale faced and shivering.

Japan was almost worse, because he had spent the entire evening curled up on his bed, his back to everyone else, not speaking, although apparently he was reading.

When Alfred had gone to check on him, he came back saying he hadn't turned a page in over an hour.


	15. A Silent Possession

**I probably mentioned this earlier, but I do not own Hetalia or Paranormal Activity. I assume you guessed that, but better safe than sorry.**

~o~

"Holy crap, man!"

Alfred was half dragging, half carrying a glassy-eyed Kiku, their faces paper white in the darkness.

France, Britain, Italy and Germany sprang bolt upright as America ran up to them, waving a thin strip of metal in front of their noses in the half-light.

"What? What happened?"

America and Japan had been sharing with Russia and China, (despite America's objections about "having to room with the commies") who had just come in behind Alfred.

"We found Japan holding this" Yao motioned at the metal, which seemed to be bookmark of some sort.

"I think he was possessed, aru."

"He was holding it so tightly that he's bleeding!" Alfred pointed at Kiku's hand.

As everyone turned around to look at Japan, he looked nervous, uncomfortable at the attention.

"What happened, Japan?" Asked Italy, his eyes wide.

"I…I don't know." Japan admitted. "I have no recollection of what happened until about five minutes ago, just like Britain-san. I think there is no other explanation except that I was possessed."

Everyone stared at him, not quite knowing what to say.

When Arthur and Feliciano had been possessed, there had been shouting and confusion; but with Kiku none of them had noticed until the very last moment.

They all felt a slight pang of guilt.

"I'm sorry for causing this trouble…" Japan murmured remorsefully.

"Dude, that doesn't matter! We don't mind, we just wanna know if you're okay."

He put a reassuring arm around him and, uncharacteristically, Kiku leaned his head against his chest.

"Thank you, Alfred."

"But" Muttered Arthur. "This means we can't even be sure when someone's _possessed_ anymore. I mean, I know Japan was acting strange, but…"

He looked doubtfully around the hotel room.

"It really could be anywhere."

"Maybe we need to go somewhere more remote?" Italy intoned quietly. "When it used to follow me, it always happened less when I was more isolated."

"Somewhere more secluded? This will be difficult. Is there no other way to _combat_ it or something?"

Arthur pondered.

At this, Italy smiled for what must have been the first time in many hours, as he pulled the number of the other demonologist out of his pocket.


	16. End

~o~

"_The number that you have dialled can not be reached, please redial, and try again. The number that you have dialled can not be reached…"_

It was hopeless. Three hours, thirty calls and eight different countries networks later, and they still could not contact the elusive demonologist.

Now they were left in a dangerous waiting game, wondering who would next be the lurking demons prey.

As they dialled, recalled, swapped phones, and dialled again, nerves and tempers were running high, with the frustrated nations snapping at each other as they desperately clung to their last remaining lifeline.

Eventually, they had to admit defeat.

"Well, that was a spectacular waste of our time and resources."

Grumbled Arthur, the latest in a surge of ill-feeling.

"Whose idea was it to call that bloke, again?"

Italy said nothing, his head bent, as France retorted.

"Leave him alone! I didn't see you coming up with any brilliant solutions, Angleterre!"

"I do not remember you coming up with any suggestion either, da?"

Russia's icy smile contrasted with his dangerous tone, as China butted in.

"Stop finding reasons to be fighting!"

"Ja, stop fighting!"

"And you, stop stealing my ideas, aru!"

"This is ridiculous, I think that-"

Bang.

"Oh, mon Dieu."

"It's here."

As the banging grew louder, they looked around to see that they were missing one person

"Where's Italy?"

"Oh no…"

Britain felt a mingled panic and guilt form, coming to rest like a tight knot in his chest cavity.

"Italy…?"

Bang.

"Where is that noise coming from?"

"The stairs?"

"Oh my God, it's coming up the stairs!"

Bang.

"Has it possessed Italy again, or…?"

"Nein! It will not be that. It can't be…Italy! Answer me!"

Bang.

"Where is it?"

Bang.

"It's getting closer…"

Bang.

Bang.

"Nein…Italy…?"

Stop.

**Scream.**


End file.
